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Sunday, September 2, 2012

Playtesting and the Camera

As I mentioned many times before, Metroid wasn't a popular franchise here, at least not as popular as Mario or Zelda. Because of that, playtesters with Metroid background are kinda hard to find. Luckily, a couple of months ago, two musicians that happen to be fans of Super Metroid started doing some playtesting for AM2R.

This helped a lot with the Metroid fights. The latest playtest session showed that I overtamed the Alphas (health and ammo drops were too generous), and that Gammas are still cheap as hell. I re-balanced every Metroid up to the 3rd Area, but there's plenty of testing left to do.

Turns out that playtesting is a very time-consuming part of development. Preparing the section of the game, documenting the results, comparing the performance of different testers, all that organization takes quite some work. But the data gathered is invaluable.

One thing that received a nice overhaul these days was the camera system. There were situations in big caves where 2 camera controllers (the objects that limit the scrolling to keep the camera fixed in one axis) overlapped, and caused very jerky camera movements. I had to rewrite some of the code, without breaking the existing system.

So, a new demo is on the way, and now the question is not "When is it released?", but how much more of the game will it include. For feature requests, speculations about the later areas, and general discussion, I invite you to the Forums.

Great to hear from you again Doc! AM2R is sounding to be vastly improved on, which is a good thing; it will really make the game that much better (If that is even possible).

The project is moving along rather nicely, and really, nothing can stop its descent into becoming a reality.

Another demo? That is exactly what we desire: Another take on one of the most ambitious, non-official remakes. And even better, to see what you have been up to for the last few months. In the end, it's going to be novel experience, without a doubt.

It would take quite some time to do, but i'd rather not have any of the final game into the demo, mostly because it would be so frustrating to reach the end of the demo and still want to finish. But then again Doc, this is your work, you have the final word. I just thought you could rig up a stage that included the situations you needed more info on.

This is great. The soundtrack of the first trailer was just AMAZING, I wonder how brilliant will the other tracks be. But I still insist that there should be cutscenes, they always make games more modern, especially when it comes to 2D platform games. Well, I'm looking forward to play the new demo, I'm sure I'm gonna love the surprises.

News of a new demo...on my birthday even (September 2nd) Amazing! And glad you got some playtesters Doc! That's great news as well, playtesting is a very important aspect of development, can't wait for the finished product, keep up the good work!

I don't really know if you've already answered this question before on previous posts but: When you finish the game, will you make a countdown for it like the guys at BlackMesaSource.com or, will you just post the links?

I'm looking forward to this. I DEMAND YOU to do a HUGE post when you finish this, describing all your experiences with this project since the start, it will be a nice read! Heck! You had thousands of people following you ALL these years. Sometimes I felt more worried with your life actually rather than the project, like, when all those HDs failed, and when your daughter was born! I guess I could say I'm a fan of yours, pal. Keep up the good job there - At this point, you're already a hero of the internet!

Been playing metroid ever since Nintendo. Only bought a Gamecube for Prime. It's my one of my favorite franchises, and I've always been a child of Nintendo. Keep up the good work. Wouldn't mind poking at it for playtesting myself. Being a perfectionist has its advantages. :P

Good luck on your project. Hope to see the culmination of your work very soon.

I don't really mind when a new demo that you and your team have created comes out since I'm not really the type that would constantly poke you to release one, but I am very eager to see how the progress turns out when ready to be shown! It kinda makes me wonder if I could be able to put some form of creative input that might help out in some areas in the game, like non-metroid boss battle concepts since I am a fan of the series and an imaginative artist. Thus I believe you have all the support and cast to help create a dream into a reality.

I have completed and own every single Metroid game ever made by nintendo. (excluding metroid pinball). I'd love to playtest it for you! You may remember me but we briefly met in the chatroom for Metroid Headquarter's 100-Hour Metroid Marathon. Anyhow, if you feel like giving me a copy of the game to playtest, contact me at ilagunas98@gmail.com

I think Maybe you could make the wall jump be an item, so that at the beggining you cannot wall jump over the ruins. You could call it wall jump boots, and say it has small stick pads on it so you jump off the wall. or something like that.

Doc I am really happy with the progress all that I ask is with the release make sure that you keep the difficulty level for every player in mind. I personally like really challenging games and I wont a mode that's very hard and unforgiving so please add a very difficult mode to the game were the simplest mistakes can cause your death.

approxamentally one post a month? I can deal with that, if you are giving us information. Would love to see a

Progress report at the end of these. Sometimes, I know things get in the way, and it is hard to get any progress. and the screw attack blocks to the left of our landing site? are those going to change to Metroid Blocks? as the baby Metroid what allows you past it. Otherwise, a person might be able to go back and just screw attack them... not that he will get far to begin with.

Anyways. glad to see what we have. Just played though the original one. and since we only have overworld, and level 1 so far. if we get to lvl3 which there are 10 of them it wouldn't be that revealing. Anyways. here's hoping to a good update.

In response to the anonomas who said other m sucked. IT SO DOES NOT!!!!!!!!!! I have played Every Single Metroid Game and I would compliment every single one of them. They are all so great and even the fan-made ones are "Kick###" like you say. So I am tired of all the trolls talking bad about other m. appreciate things for what they are, dont just look at something and point out the few flaws.

thank you very much for this wonderful game Doctor just want to know why I watch videos where a lot more history and even has space jump samus plasma beam and more powers can not download this vercion also this is not complete but it took so much time agradeseria please leave us waiting this metroid download is incomplete but I would die if you do not play in the preview looks fantastic upload it to mediafire seriously I'd appreciate